The retroviruses are defined according to the invention as viruses wherein the genetic material carried on a chain of ribonucleic acid is transcribed inside a target cell of desoxyribonucleic acid by means of an enzyme called reverse transcriptase.
These viruses are responsible for pathologies in the vegetal and animal worlds. A non-exhaustive list of said viruses is to be found in J. M. HURAUX et al., Virologie, Flammarion Medecine-Science, 1985, Paris.
When the integration stage in the target cell chromosomes has been reached, the recovery likelihoods (return to the previous condition) are low. As a matter of fact, these viruses infect cell series of various types and no drug able to extract the viral genetic material from infected cells seems to be probable at the present time.
Besides, these viruses have mutation properties and they are screened by animal pools which allow them to occur as new antigenic forms (by use of cellular fragments of the host cell, for example), which causes the vaccination to be complex.
Today only one treatment is known which extends the survival of the patients, however not allowing a cure. This treatment comprises administration of 3'-azido-3'-desoxythymidine (see EP-A196185). This substance acts by reverse transcriptase inhibition.
Other substances are known as inhibiting replication of viruses HIV through their action on the reverse transcriptase. Some didesoxynucleotides (see EP-A-307914) may be, for example, cited.
It has also been found that some substances have as an effect to block the penetration of the viruses into the cells. As substances having this effect, it may be cited for example oligo-saccharides or polysaccharides (see EP-A-240098) or also castonospermine (B. D. WALKER, Inhibition of human Immunodeficiency virus suncytium formation and virus replication by castonospermine, Proc. Nail. Acad. Sci. USA, vol. 84, p. 8120-8124, Nov. 1987).
According to these treatments, it may be hoped that the virus having infected a patient will not follow its development and its propagation. However, the patient does not return to this condition before the affection because the provirus is not affected and it subsists inside the cell which has been previously attacked. The treatment is thus palliative and not curative.
This kind of treatment has the important danger to allow resistance of viruses to compounds to appear. It seems already established that the virus becomes resistant to 3'-azido-3'-desoxythymidine after a more or less long term, in particular after about 12 to 18 months (SCHULHAFER E. et al., Acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome . . . , In Vivo 3(2):61-78 (1989)).
Finally, it has already been considered to use, as a drug against retroviruses, some benzidine derivatives which bear amongst others azoic groups (see FR-A-2612515). However, in this document there is only a simple affirmation concerning the activity of these compounds.
The transmission way of the viruses have been determined in case of a direct blood contact and contact through wounds by infected material. The risk of a transmission from infected objects and particularly medical material is not to be neglected.
On the other hand, the sexual transmission and the transmission to children via infected mother's milk are also established, which shows that the passage of infecting particles through sound mucosas is possible. (P. LEPAGE et al., Postnatal Transmission of HIV from Mother to Child, The Lancet, Aug. 15, 1987 p. 400; C. J. MILLER et al., Genital Mucosal Transmission of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, Journal of Virology, Oct. 1989, pp. 4277-4284).
The existence of a virus, inoculation by way of a simple contact, i.e. through skin or mucosa, seems more and more likely. According to the opinion of some searchers, the inoculated viruses would seem to go through a replication phase during which they remain in the area of the mucosa or skin of the carrier. This phase could continue for several months. It would be in the second phase only that the viruses and/or the constituents thereof would spread from the mucosa. (R. ZITTOUN, Syndrome Immuno Deficitaire Acquis, Doins Editeurs, Paris, 1986, p. 183-184).
Thus for the eradication of the disease, it is appeared as necessary to prepare molecules able to disinfect inanimated surfaces and objects, as well as materials and products which come into contact with mucosa and skin. It is appeared as essential to impede as far as possible the retrovirus transmission from a carrier to a healthy person.
Compositions and a method for disinfecting, which use natural or synthetic oliosaccharides or polysaccharides having at least one S-oxoacid group, are already known (see EP-A-285357). However, from the Examples, it results clearly that, even if these compositions are active against the retroviruses, a part of the treated viruses always subsist, with the enormous risk to see after a term the generation of a still more dangerous resistant virus population.
In an international patent application WO-A-90/01935, products are already provided, which are able to come locally into contact with skin, mucosas or body secretions, these products comprising an agent active against the viruses of the retrovirus group, for example sodium suramine, as well as some complex azoic derivatives such as pyridium, neotropine, Congo red, trypan blue, trypan red and trypan violet.
The action of usual chemical disinfectants, such as ethanol, glutaraldehyde, sodium hypochlorite, formalin, .beta.-propiolactone, methylated spirit amongst others, has been examined against retroviruses. (V. B. SPIRE et al., Inactivation of Lymphadenopathy associated virus by chemical disinfectants, The Lancet, Oct. 20, 1984, pp. 899-901; L. RESNICK et al., Stability and inactivation of HTLV-III/LAV under clinical and laboratory environments, JAMA, Apr. 11, 1986, Volume 255, No. 14 ; L. S. MARTIN et al., Disinfection and inactivation of the human T lymphotropic Virus type III/lymphadenopathy-associated virus, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 152, No. 2, Aug. 1985; P. J. V. HANSON et al., Chemical inactivation of HIV on surfaces, Br. Med. J., 1989, 198:862-4).
It results from these assays that most of tile disinfectants used in hospitals are inefficacious or not very efficient against retroviruses HIV, and consequently potentially dangerous. Those which are the most efficient require rather long contact times, sometimes 10 minutes and more, which is concretely difficult to apply for cleaning grounds, tables, for example. Moreover, some of said disinfectants seem to lose their effectiveness in the presence of proteinaceous materials or are not of application if they must come into contact with the skin or the mucosa of a living body, due to their chemical agressivity or their cellular toxicity.